Growl and Hiss
by Shiloh Taemi
Summary: When Kakashi's apparent death wish land him in the hospital again, Sakura is determined to help him. The only problem is that the last thing Kakashi wants is help and when Sakura tries to teach an old dog a new trick the old dog growls. Entry for the Tumblr kakasaku week: Prompt Cat and dog. Rated teen for language and kiss.


Not sure how i feel about this one. but here is my interpretation of kakasaku's 4th prompt, Cat and dog. _I do not own Naruto, I just like fangirling in their world._

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**Growl and Hiss.**

Pierced skin, the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, Kakashi Hatake was no stranger to these sensations. He had missed by a split second the powerful justsu that sent him careening into a tree, breaking ribs, puncturing a lung. A split second, he hadn't seen it. As he lay on the ground soaking it with his blood that singular thought kept running through his mind. He hadn't seen it coming. He was better than this, and he was going to die because of a damn miscalculation. His anger kept his blood pumping even if breathing was hard, his hands grasped wet earth in white knuckled fists, for the first time since he could remember he cared weather he was going to die, he wasn't ready. He no longer had his sharingan, having lost it in the war, and in adjusting he had made one too many mistakes, his last one would be fatal. He coughed blood, and looked over to where his opponent was, striding over with a smirk on his face. Fucking amateur got a lucky hit in, he tried willing himself to stand, rolling to his side he both heard and felt something in him crack, he spat blood, his mask saturated with this metallic tasting life force, but it was a dark mask and the rogue nin didn't see it, didn't know, no one knew how badly the loss of the Sharignan had handicapped his abilities.

If he still had his eye he would have seen the attack, if he still had his eye this chucklehead would be a writhing mess in the dirt and not him, if he still had that fucking Uchiha blood line limit. He got to a kneeling position, his entire body was shaking but he grasped his kunai, eyes nearly black from rage, mostly directed at himself. He would kill this asshole out of sheer principle, because he could, because he had overcome far better adversaries, opponents he actually respected, he owed it to himself, and to them to not be taken down by a Chunin level thug. If Kakashi had to die, then he would at least take this trash down with him, just as soon as the black spots stopped blurring his vision, and he had a chance to catch his breath. He dropped a kunai, and stumbled. He coughed, more blood, he saw it drip from his saturated mask. He fell, the ground didn't feel so hard, he refused to accept it, not like this. There was a noise, loud, the ground shook under him, he saw a glimpse of pink, then his world went black.

Kakashi woke up to the antiseptic scent of a hospital, there was a mask over his face, but it was plastic and attached to an oxygen tank. He hurt everywhere, his head, his chest, his limbs, his back sent a sharp jolt through him and he bit down a grunt. Dirty white grey hair fell into his eyes. There was an IV dripping fluid attached to his left arm and the soft but annoying beep announcing his heartbeat. He felt heavy and he decided closing his eyes would be the best course of action. He didn't know how long he dozed, but the curtain around his bed scrapped open causing his brow to furrow in a wince.

"Welcome back Kakashi." Sakura's voice was neither soft nor loud, but the throbbing in his head made it sound like a raikiri went off in his brain.

She came around scratching notes into his medical file, checking the numbers on the machines attached to him. Then she started checking him, and the bandages he was wrapped in. When she opened his eyes with a soft light to check his reactions he tried to pull away. She let out an exasperated sigh.

"Don't be difficult." She admonished him.

He replied with a muffled grunt.

"You have a grade three concussion, you broke four ribs, punctured your right lung, your left knee separated and twisted, three of your spinal disks have compression fractures. You're a mess Kakashi. If you want out of the hospital quicker, you need to be good." Sakura lectured. As she spoke he noticed how her normally pale skin had an ashen look to it, how dark the circles under her eyes were. Guilt stabbed through him almost as poignant as the pain.

His shoulders slumped and he gave her a small nod of his head. He was tired, he was in pain, and right then it didn't matter if he slept in a hospital bed or not. Sakura lowered the blankets from his torso and placed her hands inches from his chest, the familiar green glow enveloped them, and the healing chakra was sent into his body. It made him itch, but then it turned cool and in the end the sensation put him to sleep.

Sakura closed the door to Kakashi's room, leaning heavily on it. She had spent the last forty eight hours working on him from the moment her and her team found him. She had been living off of soldier pills, no one knew Kakashi's file better, knew his scarring, internal and external better than her, and frankly she didn't trust anyone but herself to treat him. They could get it wrong, make it worse, and believe him when he faked being alright to get discharged early. She rubbed her eyes, she should be used to this, he had got himself into bad situations like this before, but she never could. He was one of her people, and she wouldn't lose him, she could expend every drop of her chakra to save him time and again, no matter how reckless he could be. It had been especially frightening this time because she had lost his pulse on more than one occasion while working on him, his internal bleeding and blood loss making her job even more difficult, the weaving of muscle and bone even more delicate. His opponent had been defeated easily, granted there had been a good seven other bodies strewn about the scene of the battle when they got there. The lone rogue nin left was nothing special, he had a hard hitting earth attack, the attack she could deduce had been the reason for his current condition, he should have avoided it easily. She suspected it was the subject of the missing Sharingan, but every time she tried to broach the subject he brushed it off, ignored, avoided. He needed help, both emotional and physical. In the two years since the end of the war his incident reports had doubled, on a personal level he had withdrawn into himself, technically an advisor to Naruto in his new position as Hokage, more often than not he left the heavy lifting to Shikamaru, he was a ghost within the village when he was there, if she blinked she wouldn't even know he had come home before he left taking a new mission, the only exception being if he needed to be admitted to the hospital. She left her pearch on his door and made her way down the hall to finish her rounds, her heart felt heavy, she was determined to do something for her troubled former Sensei who seemed hell bent on dying.

He was released two weeks later with an additional two weeks of medical leave with an addendum from Sakura that she would break his legs if he were to so much go near the mission boards before his leave time was up. For the first time in a long time Kakashi agreed with her, he wasn't fit to be out in the field, he needed to train, to get better. He had reached jounin at the age of thirteen without the help of the Sharingan, but the truth was that at this point in his life he had spent more time with it, then without. The eye had been just as much a part of him as his hands, or legs. Right now his matching regular eyes were what felt abnormal to him, even now almost two years after the initial loss, he no longer had that back up, that crutch, and relearning to walk had been a painfully slow and private process. There was no one he really trusted to admit his weakness to; all his life he had been a prodigy, exceptional, the teacher, captain, general even. People looked up to him, and the thought of asking for help to train was one that he pushed out of his mind. He wasted no time, not twenty four hours discharged from the hospital found him training in the dead of night, attempting to be faster, fighting against his Bunshin.

Sakura knocked on his door again, the problem with giving Kakashi medical leave where he was allowed to leave the hospital was that he very often was able to sneak a mission in the very next day. Naruto, , and Tsunade, now hospital director, gave her special orders she was to check up on Kakashi daily, to make sure his wounds were healing properly, and that he remained in the village. He was at home, his chakra within the apartment; he just wasn't opening the door.

"Kakashi- Sensei I will break this door down if you don't open it!" She shouted. It was nearly noon, and while she could understand he was a lazy man, she had other things to do that day.

The floor creaked slightly just beyond the threshold, and the sound of sliding metal indicated the releasing of the door latch. The door opened a crack, and she was met with the very unhappy and obviously just woken up Kakashi. His grey hair seemed even wilder, there were large bags under his scowling eyes.

"Weren't your doctor's orders for me to get some rest? I was resting. What do you want Sakura?" His voice was low gravel. Suddenly she felt guilty, followed by suspicion, since when has he ever followed her medic's orders? Ever?

"I'm sorry for waking you Kakashi, I just need to check your bandages and make sure you're healing ok and I'll let you get right back to sleep." She gave him a sweet smile and large puppy dog eyes. This resulted in a grunt and him opening the door to let her in.

He was wearing loose sweat pants that sat low on his hips, and his sleeveless masked anbu shirt. His bachelor apartment was scarce and held that distinctly male scent. Kakashi stood in the center of his small personal space expectantly, watching her, already feeling uncomfortable with the invasion. She indicated to the bed.

"Lie down, I'll be quick." She forced a smile, positioning her hands over his chest so she could start her checkup.

Kakashi crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, waiting for the itchy sensation to pass. He dozed lightly, Sakura's healing chakra never failing in making him drowsy, it helped that he was still dead tired. When he chanced opening an eye he saw Sakura scowling rather intensely. There was fire in her eyes, he would have closed his eye only she had caught him staring and her angry look held him in place. He cleared his throat.

"How did you manage to tear open most of your recently closed internal scars?" He did look away at that, guilt plain on the part of his face that was visible.

"You were resting my ass, Kakashi. What have you been up to? You're healing, that means no training. Do you understand that?" It was an all too familiar lecture, and already she knew he was tuning her out.

"Do you even hear me, Kakashi-Sensei?" He sat up turning his back to her, still no word, no answers, he was shutting her out, again.

"Are you done?"

She stared at his back, familiar shoulders slumped. His passive reactions were one of the most infuriating things about him. She wanted to scream, hit scratch, punch him for his apathy. She cared about him, she cared a great deal, but she had a knack of caring for emotionally stunted idiots, Kakashi was no exception. She was so sick and tired of him treating his life, his body like it was disposable. She marched to the other side of the bed where he was facing. She was seeing red, she was so angry, how dare he, hadn't he learned anything from the war? Naruto? She was determined to snap him out of this self-pitying cycle he was stuck in.

"Not nearly." She said right before slapping him clear across the face, she hadn't meant to, or maybe she had, she wanted a reaction.

"Get out." He growled low.

"Stop. Trying. To. Kill. Yourself." He hissed back. Kakashi stood up to his full hight he was a head taller than her forcing her to look up at him.

"Get out now, Sakura." His teeth were bared under his mask. Who the hell did she think she was, hitting him, coming into his home, lecturing him. She didn't understand and it was none of her damn business. Why did she insist on being here, in his life, in his space?

He wasn't talking but he was reacting, and he was fucking intimidating when he was angry, but so was she, and she wasn't backing down. She slapped him again, this time he caught her wrist after the fact, twisting her arm behind her back and slammed her up against a wall, she could feel the weight of him against her back. Her teeth rattled. He was breathing heavily in her ear, the musky smell mixed with steel and leather she had smelled when she walked into the apartment so much stronger, it was his scent, she tried to push against him, maneuver her feet to throw him off. His own legs got in the way as he pushed hers apart keeping his own bare foot on the inside of one of her feet.

"What is your problem, Hatake?" She spit between her teeth. A low short laugh rumbled through his chest.

"Being woken up, lectured then hit by my former student is a pretty effective way of souring anyone's mood Sakura. Now do I need to throw you out, or will you leave?" He didn't bother masking his voice in something fake a pleasant, he was so tired of pretending to be ok, and for once he had the right pretense to act exactly the way he felt.

"That's not what I'm talking about, ever since the end of the war there's been a barb in your paw, you've been licking your wounds and pretending to hide it. Was it losing your eye? You've always been reckless with your life Kakashi, but ever since there's been peace your brushes with death have become more frequent." She pushed against him again and his grip tightened, he was hurting her.

"It's none of your damn business, Sakura." He ground out.

"I'm your medic, I'm your friend, Kakashi, I care about you, I care if you live or die, I want you to be happy, I want you…" her words were cut off when he pressed into her.

"Stop." His masked lips brushed against the shell of her ear, abruptly he stepped back releasing her, and he went to his door and opened it. "Just go."

"Kakashi."

"Now."

"This conversation isn't over." His reply to that was his door slamming hard causing the hallway to shake.

Kakashi paced his small apartment, running fingers through his unruly locks, he had wanted to do something, her closeness had triggered something in him. It had been a primal and violent urge and that scared him, he didn't want to hurt Sakura. He left his apartment through his window, racing over rooftops until he hit the forest perching himself on the tallest tree he could find. He let the wind force air into his lungs.

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Sakura found his apartment empty when she stopped in to do his checkup the following day, the day after he was missing as well, she checked all of his usual haunts and he was nowhere to be found. When she woke on the third day she was ready to force Naruto into sending an anbu hunter nin team after their former teacher. She found him on her way to the Hokage tower, seeing his unmistakable silhouette at the center of their old training grounds, flinging kunai into a stump. She made her way towards him.

"You're a hard man to find." She followed his perfect stance, weapons hitting their mark.

"Ninja" He held up the kunai he was holding.

"I'm sorry I slapped you." He flung another trio and pulled out a set of shuriken.

"No you're not. You've always been a terrible liar, Sakura." He replied with a grunt tossing the smaller lighter blades.

"How hard have you been pushing yourself while you've been hiding from me?" Her hackles were already up, his tone and posture stiffened.

"I wasn't hiding; it's not my fault your tracking skills are lacking." He threw another blade.

"Actually it is, weren't you my teacher? I don't really remember seeing as how you were never there and enjoyed ignoring me." She threw back at him. He turned towards her then eyebrow raised.

"You were happy to be ignored if I remember correctly, who needs to learn when her highest ambition is carrying the child of a certain black haired brooding boy." Her eyes narrowed at that.

"Is this making you feel better? Picking a fight with me?" She bit out.

"Not really, you were never much of a challenge." He took a step towards her. It was predatory.

Kakashi threw a kunai at her, she caught it easily and threw it back. Sakura pounced; she would fix him after she beat the ever loving shit out of him. They sparred, tearing up the training grounds, he wasn't holding back and Sakura was left barely able to keep up. She hadn't trained with Kakashi since before the war and Shringan or not he was still formidable. He would lunge and she would swipe back and they fought like animals until Sakura found her front pressed up against a tree with Kakashi behind her, the same position she had been in at his apartment.

"Yes, it's the fucking eye. It's been two years and it still feels like I lost it yesterday. I had that thing for eighteen years, it was a crutch I used way too often, and now I'm an old dog who can't learn a new trick. I've never been useless before Sakura. I've never struggled with being a ninja, I've had struggles but this…I've always been good at this, it's been the one constant in my life, and now, I keep falling flat on my face." He spun her around, still holding her, restraining her. "My father, my team, my teacher, my friends, Obito's eye, and my ability to be what I've always been. No Sakura, I don't think my life is exactly rosy, I don't give up because I don't know how to give up, but I'm not a fan of what I am, or what I have." He let go of her taking a step back. "What the hell am I if I can't be a shinobi, who am I? I was S class, I was one of the best one of the best and I keep acting like that's still who I am, because if that's who I act like, then somehow it will still be true." He paced circling the same spot talking, not able to stop now that he he'd started. "I'm thirty four years old Sakura, I don't know how to be anything else, I don't want to be anything else, and I sure as hell don't want people looking at me like that, with pity." He pointed at her.

Sakura averted her eyes. "It sucks being average doesn't it? It is hard to really work at something to be good at it, to not be a perfect natural." She leveled her eyes at him. "You beat me in twenty minutes, so you may not be able to beat Naruto or Sasuke, you're still a damn formidable Shinobi Kakashi. How well are you going to re-learn and adjust to your new situation if all you fight is your Bunshin, you know what you would do. You really want to get back to the level you were at? Swallow that stupid pride of yours and ask someone to help you. I would offer, but clearly I have nothing to teach you. You've wallowed in your self-pity for two years. Grow up Kakashi, do something about it besides brood and push yourself to the brink of death. For a supposed genius, you're pretty stupid." Sakura shook her head and started heading towards the training grounds gates. Kakashi grabbed her arm. "What?" Irritation clear in her voice.

"You didn't do your checkup." She was right, he should have sought someone out, but it was always too hard, or inconvenient, or embarrassing, and then two years had passed. She stood in front of him and her hands flared green.

"You're wrong Sakura." Sakura visibly flinched at the words, and started to pull away, she had enough of him for one day, he grabbed her hand and held it to his chest. "I'm sure you could teach me quite a bit." He brushed masked lips against her forehead, against her seal that he was still unbelievably proud of. She blushed. She was almost as pretty when she blushed as she was when she was mad. He took her chin between his thumb and finger, tilting her head up. "Thank you for caring." Before she realized what he had done the mask was off and he was kissing her, his lips were surprisingly soft and pliant, his tongue commanding, and as she melted into his arms, Kakashi growled low in his throat, and Sakura purred.


End file.
